Selection statements, sometimes referred to as decision-making statements, are an essential component of computer programming languages. This type of statement allows the programmer to control the program’s execution flow. Depending on the results of the selection statement’s expression, the program may jump to different pts in the code block or continue to the following line.
There are various types of selection statements, each of which is a variation on the if-else statement. The most commonly used are if, else, switch, and case statements.
An if statement evaluates an expression to check whether it is true or false. If the expression is true, then the program will execute a certain block of code called the “if code block”. If the expression is false, then the program will not execute the if code block.
An else statement is used in conjunction with an if statement and has a code block that is executed when the expression from the if statement evaluates to false.
A switch statement evaluates an expression and executes one of many different code blocks based on the result. Each code block is identified by a “case” label, hence the name. The code block associated with the case statement matching the result is executed.
Finally, the case statement is an extended version of the switch statement. It has the same functionality, but the switch statement allows only one expression to be evaluated, while the case statement allows multiple expressions to be evaluated and multiple code blocks to be executed with each expression.
Selection statements are used by computer programmers to create decision points in their code, allowing them to control the program’s execution according to certain conditions. They are essential components of any programming language and have a variety of uses, such as control flow, looping, and data manipulation.
